


Blood

by plumfulkiss



Series: The Water Series [2]
Category: Chicago Med
Genre: Ava's yearning, Crockett's keeping secrets, F/F, Gen, Merman Connor, Minor fight scene, Monster Hunter!Ava, Sarah's in a band, more tags as they come up, sequel fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:40:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22992595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plumfulkiss/pseuds/plumfulkiss
Summary: Three months after Ava chased Connor Rhodes out of Chicago, two new members of the hospital family arrive. Ava suspects one of them is hiding something, but what are the lengths she'll go in order to find out what it is?
Relationships: Ava Bekker/Sarah Reese, Eventually - Relationship
Series: The Water Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1652362
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	1. Return To Oz

**Author's Note:**

  * For [an anon that messaged me earlier today](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=an+anon+that+messaged+me+earlier+today).



> i dedicate this to an anon that asked me if there was a part two earlier today, i stopped watching med cause i missed connor but i am gonna finish this series because i love you guys

Ava Bekker squinted lightly at the bright sun through the giant windows Med seemed to pride itself on. The first bright morning in a while, she noted, marching through the building, back and forth on another busy day. Perhaps she’d consider it a new beginning, a much needed one since her conflicts at the hospital had begun. Less watching, more being, she supposed, but that was a false hope. Her work involved more than surgery.

It had been three months, two weeks, and four days since Will and Connor disappeared down the busy road, and Ava had been working not just her job but theirs too, taking up extra shifts and waiting for new hires to arrive. It could have been punishment, maybe, seeing as she’s the reason they’re gone, but… Connor was a virus. He was unsafe to be here, and although exposing him as a Merman(for that was what he was) was not necessarily the best route of action, it was what had to be done. She had to get rid of him. It’s part of the job description. Will was simply a casualty.

It’s a Saturday when these new hires finally arrive, new members to the hospital’s ‘family’, a return to the normality Ava herself disrupted, all for good reason. A quiet day, one where she could take a gander downstairs to meet the new recruits...and slam straight into one.

Ava stumbled backwards, hands up and at the ready, eyes squinting and narrow at the bundle of dark hair in front of her. Part of her wanted to reach for the weapon she had at the ready, but knew it was unneeded. She had taken care of the monster problem quite well. Aware now, her hands fell down at her sides, her eyes gazing forwards. A woman with a serious face but gentle eyes, dark as hell but dripping with innocence. 

“Sorry!” She spoke with a sort of calculated drawl, coated in a kindness you couldn’t genuinely fake. Her hair curled in an almost unruly manner, dark as well, pulled back into a ponytail to stay distinctly out of the way. Her eyes glowed in an attentive way, scanning Ava gingerly, the hint of a smile pressing against her pink lips. Was that rose chapstick? It was strong on the senses.

Ava smiled back, though it was tight lipped and controlled. Her eyes were brighter than the girl’s, but certainly less revealing. She was harmless; beautiful, rather. “It’s no problem,” Ava murmured gently, taking a step back and sticking out her hand. Whether it was to get a further reading or just to touch her hand, it wasn’t safe to say. “Ava Bekker. And you?”

“Sarah Reese.” Their hands connected. Hers were soft, petit against the hard edges of Ava’s own.

“Very good. I’ll be seeing you around?” She shook gently, hesitating a moment before releasing.

“I hope so.” Sarah Reese, the dark eyed beauty, glanced down at her own hand gently.

She  _ hoped  _ so. It was just picturesque. Ava might have been blushing, but tried not to make light of it, favoring something more restrained. She was harmless; that’s a good thing. She was no threat, another sign of release. Calm.

Slowly they departed, not taking their polarizing eyes off of each other, as if there was a string attaching themselves to each other, tied perkily with a bow.

Ava had never felt it before.

She moved on with the tides, though, as Sarah did too, likely with a job to do. She was here to work, after all, and it didn’t mean she could soften up. Diligent, she continued on her path downstairs, passing by others, making small talk, appearing genuine until she had made it onto the bottom floor and spotted the other new member to the team.

The way he--Crockett Marcel, based on the name she’d heard around the hospital--moved had something peculiar, flowy about it. Every other man in the hospital had a sort of clunky swagger, like stomping around, rather than light steps, leading with toe first, silent. She thought it was peculiar, but maybe he was just different. Still unassuming. He looked busy, eyes focused and narrow, waltzing around the ED like it owed him something. A clipboard was clasped in his hand that he scanned on occasion before finally landing against the countertop. She thought it was the perfect time to approach.

He caught her gaze when she was four steps away. “I don’t s’pose I’ve met you before,” He said, the slick southern drawl rolling off his tongue like molasses. It was slow, but burning with sugar, and Ava quirked a brow at him.

“You haven’t,” She replied, watching him move, trying to get a read on him. She stuck her hand out first, trying to appear delicate. He took it in his own, and the first flag was the inhuman coldness of his grasp. Ava tried not to appear surprised.

Crockett smiled, pearly white teeth glimmering like a sparkle. “Crockett Marcel. From Louisiana. It’s my first week here,” He said, and his grip was tighter than it needed to be for the brief moment before he released her hand. 

Ava felt as if she were in a standoff she didn’t plan for, but narrowed her eyes gently. “Nice to meet you. I’m Ava Bekker,” she paused. “What made you choose Chicago?”

Crockett smirked, a gentle shrug. “I go where I’m needed.”

Ava couldn’t argue. “Well, you certainly were needed after Connor and Will left.”

“I heard ‘bout that,” He said, but didn’t add anything more. Ava was being watched too. She wasn’t used to it. “I take it you’re headin’ home, Miss Bekker?”

She nodded, quirking a brow. “My shift’s over. I just wanted to make ourselves acquainted before I left. I like to know everyone that works here.”

“Well, I do too.”

Jesus.

Ava had run out of things to say. Crockett returned his dark gaze to the clipboard in front of him. “Be seein’ you, Miss Bekker.”

“Ava,” The girl corrected, arms crossing ever so slightly.

Crockett nodded. “Ava.”

And they parted.

The drive back to her apartment was silent as the tomb as she ran through a checklist in her mind. Couldn’t be another Merman, she reasoned, but perhaps a Siren if she had to choose one. They were rare and spent too much time washing hands to be welcome in a hospital. He works in blood, so maybe not a Vampire, but, then again, she’d have to see him in action. There was already an issue with Werewolves in Chicago, but it was well handled. She’d hate to see more of them. Perhaps it wasn’t that simple, either; She’d have to look into the Louisiana subspecies further.

When she pulled into the parking lot, she dug the duffel bag out of her backseat before climbing out and locking it up tight. Tossed over her shoulder unassumingly, it swayed with her walk as she ventured towards her elevator, and clinked slightly when she hit the button for the fifth floor. As she walked into her apartment, it began to sway again, less though, as her grip was tight on its handle.

The locked door now pulled open, Ava stepped over attentively to her couch. Unlike Crockett’s way of waltzing, full of flow, her walk was tight, mechanical, calculated. She placed the bag down and then, crossing the room to close her curtains. The bag shifted slightly on the couch before beginning to fa- 

Ava caught it, looking around. She dug through the bag and, procuring a knife from its depths, stared around. “Is someone there?”

Why would she think someone was there?

Her curtains shifted lightly and she stood, checking her hallway, peeking out windows. A  _ thump  _ came from her bathroom and she tossed open, knife entering the room before herself.

A cat. It was a cat. Her bathroom window was open; she must have left it open that morning.

“Oh,” She said lightly, lowering the weapon, staring at the stray brown cat that had made itself at home in her bathtub. She crossed, eyeing the cat the entire time when she gently shut and locked the window. It meowed at her. She meowed back, mimicking it.

So, she was alone after all. That’s good. No monsters hiding under the bed(or in the bathroom) tonight.

The cat was surprisingly docile but wore no collar; when she went to capture it it complied, allowing her to carry it.

“You’re cute,” She murmured, petting it lightly. It purred and she smiled.

When she set out food and water for the creature, putting the necessities for the animal on her shopping list, she didn’t see the figure peering from the dark corner of the hallway. When she changed clothes and did her nighttime routine, she didn’t see the figure exiting out the bathroom window that she hadn’t actually left open that morning. The monster that was hiding under her bed had made it out without even the slightest suspicion.

Ava, in bed with her new feline friend, turned her thoughts again to Sarah and Crockett. Her eyes narrowed, she pondered what to do about each of them; whether to wait and see or take out the potential threat before anyone could consider anything.

For Sarah’s sake, she wanted to wait and see. For Crockett’s sake, she already wanted the man gone. However, she couldn’t smoke him out in the same way she had Connor; it was too attention grabbing, too clear, too obvious that she it was her job.

Hunting monsters had its ups and downs. 

Guess she’d have to wait and see.


	2. Pretty in Pink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ava's trying to get Crockett right where she wants him... it isn't working.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapter, i'm sorry! dialogue isn't my strong suit and i've been focused on other things. i'm on quarantine until april 17th so i'm hoping to get some more stuff done, this included. i'm also starting a new fic at some point!

“Enjoying your lunch, Sarah Reese?” Ava asked quietly as she slipped into the break room. She had come here for reasons unspecified, hoping to get a peek into a certain someone’s things. Maybe to get a better read on what she could be dealing with. However… the room wasn’t empty, so she couldn’t cause mischief where it could be seen. Certainly not in front of this figure of grace and innocence. 

Sarah glanced up from her salad-in-a-jar and tilted her head lightly in acknowledgement. “Yeah, I guess. I’m trying to do this whole packed lunch thing instead of ordering or getting from the trucks,” She said, glancing downwards before taking another bite. She shrugged it off and swallowed. “What about you? What’re you doing in here, Ava?”

Ava turned lightly and smiled. Her eyes cast a glance at Crockett’s things and she wished it was that easy. Her gaze returned as if magnetic to the other figure. Her curls were so unruly; they were tied up and away but still barely keeping a clean form. One had fallen down in front of her ear, a perfect twist and twirl.

“I needed a break from all of the people,” Ava lied easily, but not as easily as it could have been to anyone else. There was some biting at her for keeping her secret. She still continued; she had to. “I’m not the best at socializing with strangers.”

“You seem fine to me,” Sarah said with a nonchalant shrug, leaning back in the chair slightly, crossing her legs, glancing up at Ava with a careful gaze. 

Ava chuckled, rolling her eyes lightly. “You’re no stranger, Sarah.”

Sarah smiled. “Thanks, A-”

There was a clattering and a rumble outside; the bright flash of sirens and calling to action. Sarah rose and put her things down, poking her head out, seeing what was the matter.

Three bloody victims. She turned her head back to Ava. “You busy?”

Ava smiled, genuine. “Not at all.”

And Ava spent another day watching Crockett and making small talk with Sarah. She took notes in her mind, writing off possibilities and wrapping back around. He seemed to tense when the patients first came in, blood trailing down their face and out of their stomach, but after a twitch of the eye… he returned to normal.

Interesting. 

And other things like that. She couldn’t be there the whole time, dipping in and out, going back to her real job and helping wherever necessary, taking time to pull her hair up and out of her face and to make asides towards Sarah. They worked in this waltz the whole day through, and when her and Crockett stood together she paid quiet attention. Once he caught her gaze.

“Miss Bekker,” He said, dripping sugar and Louisiana false kindness. He raised a brow at her and cleared his throat, “I don’t suppose you’re down here to talk to me, are you?” He glanced towards one of the rooms, paying attention, listening for any out of the ordinary. He pursed his lips and then chewed on them lightly. He cast his gaze down on her; tall, taller than her and not as easily taken down as Connor was.

Ava clasped her hands but kept them low, watching his saccharine face, looking for any notification that he was hiding something. None, but she was deep. “I can’t say it was on purpose,” She murmured, glancing past him to watch Sarah dip in and out of rooms as if dancing. 

Crockett followed her gaze, and then something broke in him. Though sweet he tried to cast aside emotion before then. His brows raised and the tips of his corners turned upwards. Had Ava been paying attention, she would have noticed a flash of white, but she wasn’t. She was distracted. “I see,” He said, and he loosened up incredibly, leaning against a countertop, smirking knowingly. 

“What are you doing?” Ava said sternly, remaining stiff, turning her gaze back at her. 

“Ava, I’m no genius, but…” Crocker trailed off, shrugging, squinting at her. “Not sure what I’ve got to do with it.”

The blonde scoffed. Even if he’d stopped calling her ‘Miss Bekker,’ this was not the desired outcome. She still didn’t know what he  _ was  _ and he knew it, too. He was holding it just in front of her face, out of reach, under her nose, and that concept left her feeling frustrated as frustrated could be. “You aren’t a part of it,” she said.

“Would you like me to?” He teased, nudging her with his elbow, encouraging her to loosen up some. Her toes curled and she could break her own hand if she kept them clasped any longer; she considered it and then released, taking a deep breath, embodying someone looser, someone paying less attention. Crockett had her now. 

He kept talking, spilling sweet tea and gravy and the kind of charm you couldn’t fake. “Rumor has it she’s been asking if anyone wants to meet her at the park tonight, some concert or something, but…” He paused, shrugging, glancing Sarah’s direction to see her dip between areas once again. “Can you trust a rumor, Ava?”

“Not necessarily,” She said, trying to sound less biting. She crossed her arms, remaining guarded but not as stiff. She reached up and brushed through a loose chunk of hair, twisting it lightly as if it was one of Sarah Reese’s curls. “Depends on where it comes from.”

“Can I trust rumors about you, Ava Bekker?”

The question was different from the others beforehand. It was a challenge, a key that he was most definitely onto her, a sign he didn’t trust her. Ava hated to overanalyze at times like this, but it had to be true, didn’t it? He had to be something, and he had to know she’d be trying to find him out, right? A lump in her throat formed; it wasn’t one that was easy to swallow.

Crockett smiled, having won, grabbing a clipboard and stepping away. “Be seein’ you,” He said cheerfully before walking off. He stopped to talk to a nurse, give her the same southern charm the rumors said he had, said he  _ oozed. _

Maybe rumors would be her downfall. 

It wasn’t tonight, which she was thankful for as she found herself sitting on a blanket in the park, listening to somebody sing something someplace in sometime. She wasn’t sure why she came; the crowd was too expansive to venture past the outskirts where she sat alone. She checked her phone as the sun fell past the clouds and the sky darkened. 

What  _ was  _ this? Some open mic in the park? Whoever was opening didn’t seem do know what they were doing, playing jokes to a crowd that wanted to be wasted and have a good time. Thank goodness they were gone soon enough, and a new act mounted the stage.

A girl with wild hair, a speck from where she sat, drumming her heart out. Her hair spoke for her, and Ava perked up. Oh.

_ Oh. _

And the band started playing, and Sarah Reese was rocking her socks off. So that’s what this rumor really was about: she wanted someone to come see her play. Ava could be good, and Ava could be responsive… even if it wasn’t necessarily her type of music.

She took photos and smiled, truly, and didn’t care about any monster in her closet; if Crockett was going to play hard, she could be prepared to bite back another day. For now it was all about someone else for a change, about relaxing, about supporting someone she liked.

For now, it was about something human. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let's talk about this chapter! tumblr @plumfulkiss


	3. Ferris Bueller's Day Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things become Crockett and Ava become deathly tense.

Another day, another day getting pulled into a janitor’s closet with a locked door by a red-eyed and positively vampiric Crockett Marcel. 

It wasn’t supposed to end up like this, Ava noted, staring forward at the changing monster, shifting before her very eyes. It was supposed to end with her saving everyone once again, not that they knew, and she’d get to work another day not worrying about what monster-of-the-week would come into Chicago, the supernatural superhub of the area, and keep talking to Sarah, maybe something more. That’s how this whole thing was supposed to end, not her being bled out in a janitor’s closet by Crockett Marcel, a vampire who was hungry. His eyes were glowing a disgusting blood red, the same blood red that was on his cheek and hands just twenty hungry minutes ago.

Maybe it’s best to back up a little.

A week and a half after seeing Sarah play in the park, Ava asked her to dinner. It was innocent enough, a sweet gesture and a compliment to Sarah’s musical skills. Ava called it ‘impressive’, one of her favorite words, adoring how it rolled off her tongue and floated in the air like a crisp and clear compliment. She liked even more how Sarah reacted, twisting a loose curl back up into the bun the rest of it sat coiled in, brown eyes looking to the floor as if embarrassed, cheeks pink as she said, “I didn’t expect anyone to show up…” slowly, happy to have the attention she craved. Ava loved to read people, loved to watch them behave and understand them, and nobody had ever been more deserving of this than Sarah Reese. She was smitten, if one could call it that, because Sarah was too. Would it be said out loud? Who was to say, especially not now, staring at each other in the crisp and surgically clean building, sterile. It wouldn’t be the first relationship on the property; it was rare for there to be one that wasn’t in between coworkers at this point. It would be different though, and Ava knew it would be different if she could only muster up the certain degree of confidence needed to ask.

So she asked her to dinner at a restaurant across town, calling it a casual affair, and also asked where else Sarah would be playing. They set the date: three days from now, after their shifts, and they’d get in touch, meet, go together, do whatever. Sarah got Ava’s cell number; there weren’t many people that had Ava’s number anymore.

And yet, here she was now.

Crockett bore his fangs at the blonde hunter, and she was thankful to be strong enough to pull herself away from him. If this were anywhere else, she’d have weapons, silver weapons, ones that could kill him before he could kill her… but it wasn’t anywhere else. It was a hospital, and she was here to save people, not kill them. He’d cornered her right where she couldn’t get out of. 

So she ducked from his grasp and snatched something, some cleaning spray from the walls and bore it pointing at him, shouting, “What are you doing!” in a stern manner of voice before dipping out of his grasp once more. The room was tight, cramped, and if the fight left the room they’d both be in serious trouble. 

Crockett, who knew this just as well as she did, held up his hands in fake surrender, giving her ample time to lower her line of defense once more before getting ready to strike. He wouldn’t kill her, it wasn’t something he thought himself able to do, but he had to save himself from what she was capable of. “You know  _ exactly  _ what I’m doing, Ava,” He said through grit fangs, and that bonafide southern sweetness and drawl was gone, replaced with a snark as biting as his teeth. If she drew blood, it might have been over. “I know what you are.” 

Ava all but scoffed and she sprayed, causing him to back up into the doorway and she grabbed the collar of his shirt. She was strong enough and then some to knock those teeth out if she wanted to. “What  _ I _ am? You’re a  _ vampire,  _ Crockett! You’re a danger to the entire hospital!” Her words were powerful, snapping like a dragon, a fighter.

A hunter.

Crockett eased, on guard but watching her every move. His eyes were red but the two long fangs retracted, lowly and slowly, back to perfectly normal(if a little sharp) canines. They were clean and pristine, well cared for, careful, unassuming. Ava knew better. Ava had always known better “So I’m a vampire. What gives?”

“What  _ gives  _ is that there are thousands of human lives here that  _ you’re  _ going t-”

“I’m gonna what. I’m gonna  _ what,  _ Ava. I’ve been workin’ in blood for longer than you’ve been breathing, and your momma too. There is  _ nothin’  _ here I can’t do that you can. I’ve been at it, been ‘round the block, been ‘round the whole damn world for Christ’s sake. So how’s ‘bout you jump off your damn high horse and walk back out there.”

Ava gawked. “I don’t care. My job is to  _ protect  _ those people, save their lives from current  _ and  _ future threats. You have to go.”

“No I don’t,” Crockett practically laughed, “Just because you’re a monster hunter doesn’t mean you get to  _ hunt  _ me.”

“It does. It’s my job.”

“Ah-ah-ah,  _ your  _ job is to get out there, mind your business, and talk to that girl you like so much. See, I know a lot of things about what you think your job is, Ava.”

He backed against the door when Ava tried to storm off, arms crossed tightly, and he looked intimidating. Ava didn’t want to admit that.

“What do you know, Crockett. Tell me! You like to parade around sharing rumors, well, what do you have on me?”

He began to speak but there was a stern rapping on the door. His eyes returned to the charming darkness they glossed over to normally. He unlocked and opened the door.

Dr. Stohl and Gwen Garrett peered into the room, and Ava rushedly put the bottle back on the shelf, slumping her shoulders and putting her hands behind her back.

Garrett spoke first. “Bekker. Marcel. What are you two doing in here?”

Ava opened her mouth, “He w-”

“Just talkin’, Miss Garrett. Don’t mean nothin’ by it, taking care of some things while we had the time.”

“That’s well and good,” Dr. Stohl said in his monotone annoyance, glancing between them both and narrowing his eyes at Ava, “But you should probably get back to saving lives… shouldn’t you?”

“I think you should,” Garrett said.

Ava nodded submissively and hurried out of the room quickly, trying to avoid the two’s gaze and trying to forget Crockett’s gaze. 

It was back to work for them both, both here and someplace else. Ava couldn’t give up, couldn’t accept that Crockett had won, because he hadn’t. She’d get him again someday, but, for now, she had reservations to make across town for three days from now. She could play the long game.

Crockett could too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's talk about this chapter! Tumblr @plumfulkiss

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr @plumfulkiss  
> let's talk about this fic!


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